Submit a Case

Submit a Case

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Need FIRE’s Help? Sound the FIRE Alarm!

FIRE welcomes submissions regarding potential rights violations from concerned students and faculty members. When our involvement is warranted, FIRE will work with you to contact your institution to demand that it remedy violations of your rights. FIRE may also bring public attention to rights violations to prompt universities to uphold student and faculty rights. Please read these instructions in their entirety before submitting a case.

Please identify in your submission any documentation you have to support your case (which could include screenshots and other images, emails, letters, notices, or other documents). If you would like to include documentation pertaining to your case when submitting, please utilize the “attach documents” feature contained in the form. File formats that may be attached are: .doc, .docx, .pdf, .txt, .jpg, .gif, .png, .zip. A maximum of 3 files may be attached; if you have more than 3 files, please compress your files into an archive (.zip) and upload it as a single file. Please note: All uploaded documentation must be accompanied by a detailed description (or narrative) of your case in the form below. Failure to submit a summary with your documentation will substantially delay the review of your submission.

Submitting a description of your potential rights violation to FIRE does not mean that either you or FIRE have committed to taking any action, legal or otherwise. Please note that while some FIRE staff members are attorneys, sending a submission to FIRE does not create an attorney-client relationship. Most cases accepted by FIRE are resolved through private or public advocacy and without the need for legal action. Only a very few case submissions will warrant legal action by FIRE, and only after entering into a written, signed agreement with FIRE will an attorney-client relationship have been created. In all instances, however, personal and private information and materials submitted to FIRE will be used solely for case intake review and will be held in confidence in accordance with the law, unless and until you give permission to the contrary.

Unfortunately, FIRE cannot assist with submissions from university community members who were not faculty members or students at the time of the potential rights violation, submissions from elementary or high school students, submissions that primarily concern grading disputes, or submissions regarding institutions based outside of the United States.

FIRE receives more than a thousand submissions per year, and we do our best to respond to each in a timely manner. Please do not call FIRE regarding the status of your submission. We do not accept in-person visits or submissions.

Before submitting this form, we recommend that you type your submission into a new document outside your web browser, where you can save your information in the event of an error. Please edit your submission for clarity before sending it to us.

For more information about FIRE’s work and the cases in which it has intervened in the past, please see FIRE’s mission and visit FIRE’s archives.